Monday, July 1, 2013

NORMAN,
Okla. – University of Oklahoma chemical engineering professor Dimitrios
Papavassiliou has been selected to serve as a National Science Foundation program
director for the Fluid Dynamics Program. Papavassiliou will help establish the
organization’s research policy in fluid dynamics as well as be involved in NSF
initiatives that affect research directions in engineering and
sciences more broadly.

“Being
selected as an NSF program director is a reflection of national recognition and
an indication of trust by the scientific community to lead research at a
national level,” said Thomas Landers,
OU College of Engineering dean. “It’s important to select a person
who is well-respected in their field since their decisions can affect the
direction of federal funding for research as well as the career path of
young faculty and students for several years.”

As
an NSF program director, Papavassiliou will manage the NSF research portfolio
in fluid dynamics, which is a research area in mechanical, chemical, aerospace,
civil, petroleum and environmental engineering, applied mathematics, physics,
and meteorology.The position includes setting
research priorities at the national level, soliciting proposals and
organizing their peer review, funding these proposals, and monitoring progress
of already funded projects. Program directors, called rotators,
traditionally serve two to three years and oversee a typical annual program
budget of $7 million to 9 million.

Papavassiliou’s
goal as NSF program director is to expand fluid dynamics research in multiple
fields, particularly at the nano- and micro-scales, in life and biology, atmosphere,
oceans and the subsurface.

“Fluid
dynamics has been around for hundreds of years, going back
to Leonardo Da Vinci, but there are important problems today that
need and can be addressed with modern fluid dynamics experiments and
computations,” said Papavassiliou.

“I
would like to stir the community to become more extroverted, to not only take
over projects of significance to our lives, but to also publicize
their work to more visible outlets, engaging the public and young
scientists to pursue a career in fluid mechanics,” said Papavassiliou.

Papavassiliou
is a Presidential Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials
Engineering at OU. He received his bachelor’s degree from Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined OU in 1999, after working
with Mobil's Upstream Strategic Research Center in Dallas, Texas. He has
co-authored more than 80 journal articles and presented his work in more than
130 conferences. He is actively involved in the American institute of Chemical
Engineers, including the AIChE Journal Consulting Editorial Board.